35 Festive Easter Dinner Menu Ideas (Yep, There's Glazed Ham)

There are many things about Easter that I look forward to, from dip-dyeing hard-boiled eggs to heating up Peeps in the microwave. But one of my favorites is sitting down to dinner with my family, which isn't something we necessarily do every day.

Whether it's a classic glazed ham served alongside roasted green beans, or deviled eggs and a leg of lamb slathered in neon-green mint jelly, there are plenty of traditional Easter favorites that the whole family will love. This list of our 36 best Easter dinner recipes has it all—including some new dishes you might want to add to your spread, too.

1. Super Simple Glazed Ham

A glazed ham is an Easter dinner classic, and this contest-winning version hits all the right sweet-tangy notes without hitting you over the head with sugar.

2. Leg of Lamb With Garlic Sauce

Lamb, another Easter favorite, gets a very garlicky upgrade in this recipe—and by garlicky, we mean 30 cloves of garlic (seriously).

3. Lemoniest Roast Chicken

You don't need much to pull off this simple roast chicken that's all about the citrus. In fact, pretty much everything you need is in the title (lemon and a whole chicken for roasting, plus butter, salt, and pepper).

4. Spring Vegetarian Cassoulet

This vegetarian-friendly cassoulet, starring cannellini beans and artichokes, can just as easily go vegan simply by substituting the butter for olive oil.

5. Carrot & Potato Gratin with Parmesan & Thyme

This lightly herby carrot and potato dish proves that gratins don't need to be reserved just for winter.

6. Spring Vegetable Panzanella with Poached Eggs

We love this panzanella (aka bread salad) for highlighting all the best produce that hits the farmers' markets come April (and all the bread, of course).

7. Pasta with Prosciutto, Snap Peas, Mint & Cream

This quintessentially spring pasta calls on all the bright, fresh flavors you associate with warming weather, like peas and mint (plus cream, because it never hurts).

8. Glazed Spiral Ham With Apricot Jam & Dijon Mustard

This is basically just glazed ham, with a twist. (Get it? It's spiralized.)

9. Pan-Fried Lamb Chops With Minted Pea Salad

If you're new to cooking lamb chops on the stove, consider this very easy method (complete with a spicy-minty marinade) your go-to.

10. Frittata with Spring Greens, Parmesan & Pancetta

If your idea of Easter dinner is actually Easter brunch, whip up this fluffy, vegetable-packed frittata and serve it with some mimosas.

11. Lemon-Oregano Leg of Lamb

A regal piece of meat, like a leg of lamb (or even roast chicken or salmon), doesn't need too much fuss—just a simple blend of Meyer lemon zest, dried oregano, garlic, and crushed red pepper.

12. Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto & Burrata

Don't let those carrot tops go to waste! Use them in a nutty pesto for topping the roasted carrots you were going to make anyway.

13. Jane Grigson's Celery Soup

This bright green celery soup makes a wonderful starter for a larger Easter dinner meal, or a light-yet-satisfying main.

14. Roasted Potato Salad With Mustard-Walnut Vinaigrette

This isn't your average potato salad, starting with the fact that the potatoes here are roasted instead of boiled, which adds a bit of extra texture to what can sometimes be a mushy dish.

15. Caesar-Style Kale Salad with Roasted Onions & Ricotta Salata

Kale gets the Caesar salad treatment in this recipe, and as such, has all the things you hope for: crunchy croutons, a flavor-packed dressing, and bacon.

16. Oven-Braised Buttermilk Chicken with Za'atar

Buttermilk and za'atar work together to make an incredibly juicy, flavor-packed braised chicken that requires at least an overnight marinating session.

17. Ham, Gruyère & Caramelized Onion Galette with a Fried Egg

Get all that ham flavor in this cheesy, fried egg–topped galette.

18. Absurdly Addictive Asparagus

Over 300 rave reviews can't be wrong—this absurdly addictive asparagus belongs on your dinner table this Easter.

19. Heavenly Oatmeal-Molasses Rolls

A great meal isn't complete without some dinner rolls to spread copious amounts of butter on. Our recommendation: these lightly sweet, ultra-tender oatmeal-molasses rolls.

20. Virginia Willis' Deviled Eggs

These deviled eggs make the perfect start to an Easter dinner, mostly because you can hard-boil and peel the eggs up to a week in advance, and make the filling up to a day ahead.

21. Caramelized Onion & Mushroom Tart

The crust on this caramelized onion and mushroom tart is partly made from whole-wheat flour, which adds a nuttiness to the dough that complements the veggies nicely.

22. Ottolenghi's Lamb & Pistachio Patties With Sumac Yogurt Sauce

Ground lamb is the base of these succulent patties, flavored with pistachio, arugula, and garlic; Yotam Ottolenghi recommends serving alongside a simple arugula salad.

23. Ina Garten's Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken

If you want chicken on your Easter table, look no further than this version from Ina.

24. Honey-Butter Pork Chops With Rhubarb Sauce & Herby Peas

Author Grant Melon calls this recipe "peak spring on a plate."

25. Ham Quiche With a Cheese Cracker Crust

Recipe developer Rebecca Firkser’s quiche with cheese cracker crust is as delicious as it is versatile—feel free to mix up the crust or filling ingredients (you can choose your own adventure).

26. Whole Roasted Cabbage

Humble cabbage transforms into a caramelized, meaty perfection after some time in the oven and a basting of flavorful miso-lemon butter.

27. Rhubarb Coffee Cake With Cardamom-Ginger Crumble

Between the tart rhubarb jam and deeply spiced cardamom streusel topping, this spring coffee cake is the perfect balance of flavors.

28. Warm & Gooey Citrus Pudding

This zesty citrus pudding is somewhere between a cake and a mousse. As many reviewers have noted, it can easily be adapted for any citrus you have on hand: lime, orange, or grapefruit. It’s light yet gooey, melt-in-your-mouth smooth, and best served warm, fresh from the oven.

29. Meyer Lemon Cheesecake With Biscoff Crust

Dinner wouldn't be complete without dessert, right? This Meyer lemon cheesecake makes the most of citrus season, while it's still here.

30. Erin McDowell's Strawberry Not-So-Short Cake

This towering strawberry not-so-short cake from Resident Erin McDowell is certainly the most showstopping way to finish off any Easter dinner.

31. Neva Tee's Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is an Easter essential, and this recipe from community member, Mary Catherine Tee, is so good it even won a blue ribbon at the North Carolina State Fair.

32. Cookie Butter Blondies

If you love eating cookie butter all on its own, you'll go wild for these cookie butter blondies, which are perfectly tender and dense.

  33. Italian Easter Pie

Make this pie the day before Easter, then keep it in the fridge overnight, so the meats (sausage, prosciutto, ham, and salami) and cheese (so much cheese) have time to set.

34. Harissa Lamb, Beans & Garlicky Greens

This cozy stew takes a little while to put together (and by a little, we mean over eight hours of hands-off prep time), but Easter is the time to pull out all the stops.

35. Basque Braised Lamb Shanks With Espelette

Inspired by axoa—a traditional Basque stew of braised veal and peppers, flavored with piment d’Espelette—these braised lamb shanks are an ode to the recipe developer's great-grandmother.

Which recipes would you like to add to your Easter dinner menu? Tell us in the comments below!